keep calm and...

If you have been a reader of design blogs for the past year or so, you would have most definitely noticed the 'Keep Calm and Carry On' poster craze that swept the design world! Originally created as a motivational poster by the British government at the start of World War II, it has recently been rediscovered and reproduced as motivational art {you can purchase some high-quality reproductions in many colours here}. I will admit that, unable to decide on a colour, I have purchased one or two of these posters meself!

But lately I've been seeing some creative and humorous twists on the 'Keep Calm' poster...check out this very cool 'Keep Calm and Rock On' poster...perfect for my guitar-playing, rockstar hubby!

And how perfect would this poster be for Miss Cuppie?! So cute! By Jenny's Bake Shop.

This card by Earmark might be going a bit far bit it did give me a chuckle.

Happy weekend Bloomies...keep calm but have a good one!

israel love

Finished the circus wedding, and onto another adventure...the three 'Bloomers are off to Israel in only a few weeks for yet another wedding of Shayna Bloomer's. Yes, in Israel and on the beach this time! This will certainly be a trip of a lifetime. My friends always come back with funky, beautiful stuff from Israel, and so I did a search today for some cool Israeli decor to inspire me, and lo and behold, I found this awesome Israeli jewellery designer that, well, inspired me! Israeli-based designer, Yael, of Yoola's makes these really loverly wire crocheted pea pod beads, pears and pomegranates. They are so sweet and I would like one or two for myself! Anyone know any other gorgeous Israel inspired designers? Let's get inspired!!

white board envy: idea paint

Do you remember Melanie's chalkboard envy a while back? I love a good chalkboard wall myself. But the other day on Apartment Therapy I saw this cool thing too: IdeaPaint - a paint that can transform an entire wall into a dry-erase white board! Just think of all the places you could write and draw...you could probably do a lot of funky decorative things with it. Not to mention all of the To Do lists I could make {yes, paper nerd is list nerd too}! Bye bye chalky dust...this is pretty darn cool.

PomLove

I just cannot get enough of Martha Stewart's paper 'puffs' {otherwise known as poms but I like to call them puffs}. They are such an easy way to decorate an event or even a wedding. In fact we used some to decorate the cocktail tent for a wedding this past fall and it is amazing how something so simple as tissue paper can create such a textured and festive effect! If you are feeling crafty, you can make your own with Martha's instructions here. Or if you are feeling a bit lazy {like me right about now...Friday afternoon} then check out these beautiful ready-made kits in from the Etsy store Pom Love...look at those colours! {found via Oh Joy}.

i dreamed i wrote a blog in my maidenform bra

Our mom always jokingly quoted the famous Maidenform Bra ad campaign from the 1950's and 60's where women 'dreamed' of being in certain situations - 'riding a gondola, painting the town red, playing Cleopatra' - in their Maidenform bras. I remember shouting 'Mom where are you?' to the response of 'I'm making spaghetti in my Maidenform bra!'.

I can imagine that these scantilly clad ads were quite risqué for their time, but they seemed to allow women in that era to 'dream' they could be free and sexy and do what they pleased {I'm sure there are a ton of feminist views on these!}. The successful ad campaign always intrigued me though, and I was lucky enough to find a calendar from Urban Barn that featured these vintage chic ads! Looking for something to jazz up my bathroom, I decided to frame some of my favourites to add a bit of quirkiness to my decor. Here is a picture of my wall, and some ads...they are just too good not to share!

i heart domino

To avoid the bone-chillingly, yucky, greyness of the weekend past, I took my weekly peek into the new West Elm store that opened up in Liberty Village. Joelle Bloomer and I are slightly obsessed with this store and last week they told us that they were bringing in their new stock so if we came back in a week I'd be in for a nice surprise. Not that I was even tired of the old stock but being surrounded by the new West Elm Eco Chic collection was certainly a huge treat! We really have no more decorating space in our condo but I fancied some large frames for our bedroom wall. We want to put some of our black + white travel pics on display. On my way to the cash, my eye caught this maginificent piece of eye candy! Domino: The Book of Decorating! Normally I don't buy these kinds of things, I just stare wishfully, but I just couldn't help myself. AND it comes with a year's subscribtion to Domino Magazine!

So, I've spent the rest of the weekend flipping through this masterpiece and each time I somehow find something new that I didn't see before. Right now I'm in a bit of obsession with designer Rita Konig's entryway. The book has this cool section called 'the domino effect' where a designer breaks down the inspiration behind certain rooms in their homes. Get this...her mother who is also a decorator, designed the wallpaper in her entryway! She was taken by the black and birdies in the decor at a Paris floral shop called Odorantes, and so was then inspired to design the wallpaper. Holy moly creative family!

I love the little table and how she uses hats that she didn't have any other storage space for as part of a very functional decor! And she has been carrying around this pink antique ashtray from apartment to apartment because she loves it so much...even though she doesn't smoke! She sounds cool...I'd like to meet her.

doilies...the new generation!

As mentioned in a previous post, we grew up in a pretty doily-infused home. There wasn't a nic-nac to be found without a requisite doily under it. Funnily enough, our teenage rebellion came in the form of {gasp!} daring to remove the countless doilies from our mother's home decor. It makes me giggle to see how we are all implementing doilies back into our design again. Inspired by a post on Snippet & Ink awhile back that showed the adorable doily lanterns above, I was searching for some more doily inspirations for my Practice Wedding. Low and behold the more I clicked, the more I found, the more I found, the more in love I am with doilies and I just realized that I seem to have lost a good chunk of my day drooling over modern takes on the dusty, out-dated pieces of lace I used to roll my eyes at growing up! So mom...I apologize...I'm starting to realize that yes, somehow you were always right!

These following beauties were found on CasaSugar:

I so want this lamp!!

How amazing would these be on the dance floor??

I'd put my hot dishes on this felt doily every day! Why not?!


Isn't this amazing?

This cool rug is from Urban Outfitters.

wedding eye candy

I love decorating. If I could sit all day and just come up with inspiration boards for wedding after wedding I'd be in design heaven. There are just so many delicious things to look at in this world. So many odd little ways to put it all together. Here are a few things that I've collected over the last little while that have been inspiring me for my own wedding[s]. I'm so happy I get to decorate two of them. My big "real" wedding seems to be shaping up to be a elegant, beachy affair with breezy layered fabric, bushy sprays of orange flowers, flower pots and jars of candles. My "practice" wedding more of a whimsical combination of found objects, vintage inspiration, lace and old-fashioned tent circuses.

These next pics are inspiring my practice wedding. I'm thinking of hanging objects from the trees on my family property. I've picked a section of the property that is mixture of old evergreen trees with spindly arms and big maple trees that create a beautiful natural canopy. It gives a feeling of an enchanted forest that fits perfectly with my whole circus tent vision!

Top picture of mason jar candles courtesy of East Side Bride. I think I'm tempted to double this idea for both my practice and my real weddings. Mason jar candles are equally appealing in both venues! Pictures two, and three from adorable vintage wedding found on Snippet & Ink. And the last two pics are from Martha Martha Martha!

And not to forget the beachy wedding inspirations of my real wedding. These are a few of the things I've added to my list of desires:

The flower pot is from IKEA. The invitations are courtesy of Kenzie Kate's Something Old, Something New blogspot. Message in a bottle guest favors originally from Martha Stewart (of course!) but found on Bridalwave site. And the succulent guest favor was featured in the InStyle Weddings Fall 2008 issue.

fabric...glorious fabric!

I have to say this "Practice Wedding" idea is a dream come true. I highly recommend it to anyone - even if they aren't having their real wedding in Israel! That is two opportunities to decorate to your hearts content!

So, lately I've been consumed by fabric. There are just so many yummy designs I can hardly contain myself. I kind of want to cover everything I own right now. I have a sneaky suspicion this could get out of hand in a very scary way!

Luckily Toronto-based on-line fabric store Tonic Living is there to feed my addiction. And at such amazingly affordable prices too! I could sit here all day and just look...as a matter of fact...I think I just did!

role reversal - planning my own wedding!

So, I’m getting married in Israel next year. What a strange place the Holy Land is for planning a wedding. The guests apparently wear jeans, they laugh at the idea of seating plans, they don’t give guest favors, they roll their eyes at spending too much money on flowers and décor but they very willingly pay over $10,000 just to rent the venue alone! And I'm not even going to mention the guest list....OY! Not exactly an easy task for a wedding planner who doesn't speak hebrew and has spent the last few years collecting wild, whimsical and wacky ideas for her own future wedding! But prevail I shall...I'll keep you posted on my continuing saga!

Luckily we (ok…so maybe me!) have decided to hold a “Wee Practice Wedding” a month before our real one for all our friends & fam who aren’t keen on the whole Holy Land thing. My mission is to have the event of my wildest, warped and wacky dreams on the most ridiculously teensy tiny budget imaginable. I don’t think future Mr. Husband quite knows what he is in for (hee hee!) but here is a sneak peak of just a few of the things that have been inspiring me.


Oh how I love the big hair and veil!


Yummy old-fashioned (teal!) armchair found online at www.dkimages.com/.../Furniture-623.html


Oh so cute table for two!

Who doesn't want a vintage popcorn maker?! You can rent a similar one from Hart Entertainment or Woodbridge Party Centre . But I think I might just buy my own!